Falling back into place
by Nedwards23
Summary: Continuation from the stairwell scene in season 4 but with my own spin, multi chapter story. Also involved Spencer, Hanna and Emily.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: A brief encounter.

"Miss Montgomery you shouldn't be in here" Ezra said as he balled his fists up trying to prevent himself from beating Connor to a pulp, for the way he has been treating Aria. Aria said nothing at Ezra's words and simply just looked up at him before she walked out of the locker room. Ezra had to stop himself from not only watching her as she left but he also had to stop himself from immediately following her, as it would make the situation even worse; if that was even possible. Instead he just looked at the floor. Seconds later once he was sure she had left he averted his gaze from the floor and sent Connor a warning death glare. A silent warning that if he said anything else to Aria he would be in trouble. He wanted to give him a detention or a bloody nose but he knew he couldn't do either. If he gave him a detention it would look like the rumours were true and if he gave him a bloody nose he might as well just shout it from the school roof how in love he was, is with Aria Montgomery. He didn't waste another second on the dumb teenager as he too quickly exited the locker room like Aria had in search of her. He searched the halls frantically before he bumped into Hanna Marin.

"Everything okay?" she asked him as she regained her balanced.

"Sorry about that and no, I'm looking for Aria, have you seen her?" He asked desperation clear in his voice.

"I don't think that's a good idea Mr. Fitz" Hanna said putting emphasis on the words Mr. Fitz letting him know that he wasn't 'Ezra' anymore.

"I know but please, have you seen her?" He pleaded. All she had to do was look into his eyes to know it was important that he found her.

"Yeah, I saw her heading to the North wing." She replied not understanding what had happened to make him sound so desperate.

"Thank you" Ezra said as he broke out into a slow jog as he went in the direction of the North wing in search of Aria, before Hanna even had a chance to ask what had happened and why he was looking for her. Within minutes Ezra had found her on the North wing stairs, a place that hardly anyone visited, Ezra scolded himself for not looking there in the first place.

He can see she has her phone out and is deleting messages, he peers over the railing to get a better look and cannot believe what people are sending her. She deletes one more before burying her head in her hands and doing her up most best not to cry. Ezra stayed silent for a moment before saying something.

"Are you okay?" It was a stupid question he knew she wasn't. All Aria did was scrunch up her face and slightly shake her head no.

"What happened in there?" She didn't answer him so he descended the last case of stairs so he could see her face before continuation his questions

"Before I came in?" He asked, he had only managed to catch the end of her conversation with Connor and wanted to know the whole story. She still couldn't look at him and faced away from him. She also wouldn't speak to him so he carried on talking, if she wasn't going to talk he was.

"Aria those guys are jerks, you can't let some stupid rumour get to you" He said trying his best to make the situation better.

Aria instantly shot her head up and finally spoke.

"It's not just some stupid rumour if there's some truth to it Ezra" Aria told him through gritted teeth trying to keep as much emotion out of her voice as she possibly could. At her words Ezra was renowned speechless, having no idea what he could or should even begin to say. Just then a voice spoke out.

"Well, isn't this cozy?" At the words the pair of them turned around to face the voice.

"Shut up Noel" Aria said as she gathered her things and stood up.

"What; have I ruined the mood" He said sarcastically loving the fact he had caught the pair talking when were supposedly 'broken up'

"You're pathetic you know that" Aria said as she barged passed Noel and headed home for the rest of the day.

"You know you love me really" Noel called after her causing a scoff from Ezra before Noel too left, leaving Ezra stood at the bottom of the stairs doing his best to process what had happened in the last 20 minutes and what he could do to fix it, and stop all the rumours from spreading even if technically they were true. He hated seeing Aria upset, it broke his heart. He wanted to do everything he could to see her smile again

**A/N: So this is the beginning of a multi chapter story I am working on. I know this rather short but they do get longer, I promise. Review and let me know what you think and also if you want a continuation or not. As always, thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for any mistakes **


	2. Chapter 2: Detective Spencer

Chapter 2: Detective Spencer

Two weeks later.

"So, sleepover at my house ladies?" Hanna asked before taking a bite from her salad.

"Sounds good to me" Emily replied.

"And me" Spencer piped in stealing a tomato from Hanna's plate

"Hey! Get your own" Hanna said hitting Spencer's hand with her fork. "What about you Aria? You in?" All three girls turned their eyes towards the brunette that was a million miles away. "Aria? Aria?" Hanna said, still Aria was oblivious to the conversation going on between her friends.

"ARIA!" Spencer all but yelled snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, what?" she said shaking her head slightly to rid her thoughts.

"Sleepover, tonight, my house, you in?" Hanna asked for the second time.

"I don't know Han" Aria replied still not 100% in the conversation.

"Come on Ar it's been ages" Emily pleaded, adding her puppy dog eyes in for good measures.

"I'll think about it Em, I gotta go" Aria said collecting her things and walking out of the cafeteria leaving all three girls puzzled.

"What's up with her?" Hanna asked aloud.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out" Spencer said collecting her own things and quickly following Aria as not to lose her. Once she almost caught up with her she saw her go into the girls bathroom, she followed and entered seconds after she then locked the main door after checking that no one else was in there of course.

"Aria" Spencer called out. "I know you're in here, it's Spencer"

"I know it's you Spence, I'd know your voice anywhere" Aria replied quietly through the stall door

"Of course, sorry." Spencer replied, leaning against the stall door. "What's going on with you Ar?" Spencer asked worried about her best friend.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Aria said as strongly as she could but her voice was shaky and she knew Spencer knew she was far from okay.

"No you're not. Talk to me, please" Spencer pleaded, she hated seeing her friend like this, for the last few days she had been distant, not completely there when they were talking, and she was hardly eating and always looked like she could cry any minute.

"I can't" Aria choked out wiping away stray tears.

"Yes you can, please, I want to help."

"You can't stop it" Aria brokenly replied.

"Stop what?" Spencer asked having no idea what the petite brunette was talking about.

"Stop these!" Aria said angrily and she shoved a hand full of folded papers under the stall door. Spencer bent down and picked the folded papers up. Curious as to what they were she unfolded one. On the piece of paper was just one word 'SLUT'. Still confused she unfolded another one that said 'Whore'. Getting an idea of the theme of these 'notes' Spencer read the rest of them between the 11 Aria had posted through to her 3 of them said Whore, 4 said slut, 1 called her easy and the rest were asking if she wanted to 'pull an all nighter' or if they were 'old enough' for her. Spencer was disgusted by every single one she read and couldn't believe Aria had been subjected to this. She took a few moments to get over the shock before talking again.

"How long has this been going on?" She asked from the other side of the stall door. Aria took a big deep breath before answering.

"Ever since the Connor incident" She squeaked out quieter than a mouse.

"Two weeks!" Spencer shrieked raising her voice. "This has been happening for two weeks and you didn't tell anyone, you didn't tell me. Why?" Spencer asked slightly offended that she didn't come to her sooner as well as still being angry that her friend was being victimized by the student body.

"Because it's true!" Aria shot back without a second thought.

"You're kidding right!" Spencer asked adding a scoff. "Aria, you are not a slut or a whore, or easy! Hell if you were any of those not only would you have slept with Ezra the first time you met him in the bar, you would have also had half the school if not all of it by now."

"But..." Aria began but Spencer cut her off.

"NO ARIA. You're not any of the things these people are calling you and you have to stop believing they are right because they are not. You are an amazing person Aria and you are smart enough to know that this school is full of idiots and bullies that just want to bring you down, don't let them bring you down, you can't let them win, you're better than that." Spencer pleaded praying Aria would listen to her. There was a silence before Spencer heard the lock on the stall door click open and the small brunette exited sheepishly.

"You're right" Aria said quietly wiping her tears away. Spencer involved her in the tightest hug she had ever given. "Spence, Spence, I can't breathe" Aria chocked out, trying to get some air into her lungs.

"I don't care" Spencer said holding her even closer. After what felt like the longest hug of her lifetime Spencer let go. "Now since we already missed the first lesson of the afternoon how about we miss the rest and go and get some pizza?" Spencer suggested trying her best to cheer Aria up.

"Sounds good to me." Aria replied "But first things first" Aria said taking the notes out of Spencer's hand "These need going in the trash." Aria said dumping them into the bin near the sinks.

"I couldn't agree more." Spencer said before unlocking the bathroom and the girls exited not only the room but the school for the day.

Little did the girls know as they exited the bathroom someone was hiding in the shadows who had been listening to their entire conversation and had a plan up their sleeve for the next day.

**Hey guys, hope you enjoyed chapter 2, leave a review and let me know what you think. Chapter 3 coming soon ****J**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: MysteryMan.

The next day Aria woke up a little brighter, after realizing Spencer was right, she was not any of the things those pathetic Rosewood High students had called her she was feeling rather good about herself. She found herself actually not hating going to school for the first time in two weeks. Aria never really loved school but she didn't hate it either, although she had to admit it was a lot easier getting up in the morning when she and Ezra were together, seeing his smile and hearing his voice woke her up in the morning but now that they were broken up a part of her dreaded it but not entirely as deep down she still had feeling for him, a part of her still loved him and always would even if she couldn't look at him without a million memories flashing through her mind in the blink of an eye.

Aria arrived at the school just in time to spend five minutes with the girls. She had given Hanna's a miss last night and decided to dedicate the night to pampering herself and indulging herself in a mountain of books. Spencer had arranged for them to meet at Aria's locker so that she could check if there was any more nasty notes and get rid of them before Aria could even know of their existence, however Spencer was pleasantly surprised by what she found in their place and couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"What are you smiling at?" Aria asked Spencer as she approached the girls.

"Good morning to you too" Hanna said sarcastically

"Sorry Han" Aria said giving the blonde a hug.

"Seriously though what are you smiling about it's kind of creepy" Hanna said causing Emily to agree with her.

"You'll see later" Spencer said cryptically "We should go, and let Aria put her things in her locker since the bells about to go, bye Ar see you in chemistry." Spencer said before dragging Hanna along with her to History.

"Things must be going well with Toby if she's smiling like that" Emily said aloud

"Thanks for the image Em" Aria said sarcastically

"Sorry, see you in math" Emily said before leaving Aria alone. Aria unlocked her locker apprehensively and took a second before opening it up, hoping there were no more notes.

Slowly she opened the door and her stomach dropped. Inside was a stack of notes yet again, only this time they were stacked neatly, like someone had placed them in there. Aria's stomach then became a pit as she began to think 'A' had something to do with this.

She took the stack out of her locker and dared to read them there and then instead of a small bathroom stall. Upon opening the first one her face changed from a frown to a smile, a smile that got bigger and bigger the more notes she read.

The first note she read had simply the word 'Beautiful' written on it.

The second said the word 'Intelligent'

The third said 'Kind'

The forth said 'Smart'

The fifth said 'Petite'

The sixth said 'Strong'

The seventh said 'Brave'

The eighth said 'elegant'

The ninth said 'graceful'

The tenth and final note had more than one word on it and said 'Aria, these are the words that count; these are the words you should listen to. Forget the other notes and focus on these, these are the ones that tell the truth the ones that matter, remember that.

P.S. If you ever need me, you know where to find me.'

After reading the last note Aria couldn't help the tears that were trailing down her cheeks. Only unlike yesterday these were happy tears, she couldn't believe what Ezra had done for her, especially now that they were broken up, even though he hadn't signed the note she knew it was him by his writing. Aria took a small second before wiping her tears away and looking around to see if anyone had seen them. She was shocked to find the hallway was empty not a soul was in them, she took a glance at her watch 8.20, 'crap' Aria thought, she had missed nearly half of first period. 'Screw it' Aria though. She was doing much more important things.

She reached into her locker, right at the back and pulled out a rather tattered piece of paper before checking something on it before throwing it back into her locker, shutting it and practically sprinting down the hall. With in minutes she reached her destination and knocked on the door.

"Come in" The voice called, not even looking up to see who their visitor was. Aria opened the door and stepped in gently closing it behind her.

"You didn't have to do that you know" She said causing Ezra to stop what he was doing and look up at her.

"Do what?" He asked playing the dumb card.

"The notes" She said holding them up so he could see them. "I know it was you, the hand writing was a dead give away" Ezra kept his eyes on her whilst she spoke then looked down once she had finished. He placed the lid back on his pen and placed it back in his pot before speaking.

"You got me" He told her holding his hands up momentarily in surrender.

"Why?" Aria asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you write them?"

"Because you needed a reminder of who you really are" He told her not taking his eyes off of her.

"You didn't have to do that" She said once again only this time she received a reply.

"Yes I did" He shot back before standing up and walking toward her.

"Why didn't you tell me what was happening Ar?" He asked.

"Because it's none of your business any more." She told him looking away.

"Yes it is." He told her placing his hands on her arms and making her look at him.

"They wouldn't be saying that stuff if it wasn't for me."

"It takes two to tango Ezra."

"Exactly! Meaning this is my fault too." Aria sighed in annoyance at the fact that he was right.

"Fine, if you want to blame yourself too that's fine." Aria said moving out of Ezra's hold and pacing the room.

"How can I fix this?" Ezra asked hating to see what has been happening to the love of his life.

"There's nothing you can do Ezra." Aria replied frustrated with the situation and leaned on one of the desks.

"If you think of anything, anything at all you let me know and I'll do it, I promise" Ezra said looking at Aria again who seemed to be more interested in her shoes.

"There isn't but if I think of anything I'll let you know" She said avoiding his gaze.

"Thank you" He said.

The room then became quiet and there was a silence between the two however for the first time since their break up it wasn't awkward it was just silent.

"I should go, I have Chemistry and if I'm late I'll get a detention"

"Do you want me to write you a note to give to the office for missing Math?" Ezra asked, not wanting her to get into any trouble.

"Yes please, if you don't mind"

"No problem" Ezra replied as he began filling in the small yellow form, he handed it to Aria and the tips of their fingers touched making both of them feel a spark of electricity. They looked at each other briefly before Aria made her way to the door, just as she opened the door Ezra spoke up.

"I miss you" He said causing Aria to stop in her tracks, she took a deep breath before turning and looking at Ezra. "I miss you too" She said before turning and leaving.

**Hey guys here's chapter three I hope you enjoy it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter it's one of my favourites ****J**** Please review and let me know what you think. As you all know reviews = motivation and updates. **


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